Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: landman@eng.sun.com (Howard A. Landman) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: Some problems of super-intelligence Message-ID: Date: 13 Dec 90 22:08:44 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca. Lines: 25 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu In article dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu (Daniel Mocsny) writes: >4. The above point is not trivial. The human brain has apparently >evolved to solve problems of interacting with the physical world within >definite time constraints. Upsetting those time relationships may >cause things to start breaking. My guess is that the mega-brain would >avoid going insane by giving up on most interaction with the real world, >and instead withdraw into an introspective, simulated world where >things happened at a satisfying speed. This issue is dealt with somewhat in Fred Pohl's Heechee trilogy (Gateway, Beyond The Blue Event Horizon, Heechee Rendezvous). One possibility is that people would only use a small portion of their consciousness for dealing with the snail-paced physical world, treating it like we do mowing the lawn. The rest would be free to deal with other entities operating at their own speed (computers and other enhanced humans). At worst, it would be a fairly private existence with few disturbances. Perfect for hacking. "If you can't stand solitude, perhaps you bore others as well." - Mark Twain -- Howard A. Landman landman@eng.sun.com -or- sun!landman